Measles-rubella vax drive: Over 32L children take jab in 1st 2 days
KOLKATA: Bengal saw a great success in the measles rubella vaccination drive on the first two days as over 32 lakh children have been vaccinated by the state health department on Monday and Tuesday. Over 16 lakh children were vaccinated on Monday while around 15.62 lakh children have received doses on Tuesday.
A senior Health department officer said that a large number of children were given vaccine doses against measles and rubella.
The department managed to cross 16,01,828 daily vaccination number on the first day of the drive on Monday, which was a record in itself.
The official also said that the Health department has set a target of vaccinating over 20 lakh children. More than 2.30 crore children are expected to get an additional dose of measles and rubella vaccine. The Health department is undertaking the vaccination drive at various levels after the state government had given a clear instruction that not a single child should not be left out.
On the first day of the drive, the Health department carried out vaccination at 7,803 centres out of which 7,734 centres were set up in various schools.
Around 8,30,823 girls were vaccinated on the first day of the drive while 7,71,005 boys were administered the jab. Besides schools, the vaccination drive is being carried out at all the blocks and primary health centres as well.
“The Health department has managed to administer doses on over 80 per cent of the total target group. We are expecting that more than 2.30 crore will be administered a vaccine dose during this drive,” the health official said.
The state government already started a month-long vaccination programme against measles and rubella virus in all the primary, block and the district hospitals besides all the government and private-run schools from Monday, in which children from 9-months upto 15 years of age are getting vaccination free-of-cost.
The drive will continue till February 11.The Measles and Rubella (MR) vaccination programme took a hit in the past two years due to the
Covid pandemic.
